termite

: a kind of soft, white insect that lives in groups, eats wood, and causes a lot of damage to wooden structures

Full Definition of TERMITE

: any of numerous pale-colored soft-bodied social insects (order Isoptera) that live in colonies consisting usually of winged sexual forms, wingless sterile workers, and soldiers, feed on wood, and include some which are very destructive to wooden structures and trees —called also white ant